Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a contract by the Vietnamese utility EVNSPC (Southern Power Corporation under Vietnam Electricity) worth a total of Euro 67 million for the design, supply, installation, and commissioning of a submarine power cable link to connect Phu Quoc Island to the national power grid in Vietnam.

Situated 45 km west of Ha Tien town, Kien Giang province in southern Vietnam, Phu Quoc island is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam and the submarine cable link will play a major role in developing the island as a tourist paradise. Once completed, the Phu Quoc link will be the first submarine power cable link to have been installed by a utility company in Vietnam.
The Phu Quoc cable connection comprises some 58 km of 3x630mm² 110 kV copper, single wire armoured XLPE insulated submarine cable, which, under the contract, will also be laid and subsequently protected. Delivery and commissioning of the Phu Quoc interconnector is scheduled for the first half of 2014.

As the leading supplier of high voltage underground cables in Vietnam and a long tradition – dating back to the mid 60s – of installing submarine cable links throughout the Asia Pacific Region, with milestone projects such as Penang Island in Malaysia, the Java-Bali link in Indonesia, Cheju Island in Korea and the Basslink interconnector in Australia, just to name a few, Prysmian Group has secured this latest submarine cable project against stiff competition from Far Eastern manufacturers.

With the goal of continuing to meet the needs of high potential growth markets for the development of new infrastructure, the Group is moving ahead with a major investment programme to expand production capacity and to multiply the use of innovative technologies such as HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) cables, which let large quantities of energy be transmitted over long distances. Furthermore, following the acquisition and integration with Draka, the Group has strengthened its portfolio of connections to mainland grids and interarray connections between turbines, also thanks to cables manufactured at the Drammen plant in Norway.